FREE WHITEWATER

Budget, Daily Bread, State Government, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 8.15.25: Wisconsin State Budget Returns to Typical Margins

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Good morning.

Friday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 87. Sunrise is 6:01 and sunset is 7:56, for 13 hours, 55 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 56.5 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1944, Allied forces land in southern France in Operation Dragoon.

Wisconsin has had large state budget surpluses rarely, and the recent years of those surpluses are now coming to an end:

With this budget, the state has now used most of the surplus that has formed the backdrop for the last few budgets. The surplus, [communications director and policy researcher at the Wisconsin Policy Forum Mark] Sommerhauser said, was mostly the result of federal pandemic aid and was also created in part by an increase in tax revenue, especially through the sales tax, as a result of inflation. At one point the surplus had grown to over $6 billion. 

“[A large surplus is] not business as usual in Wisconsin,” Sommerhauser said. “More often you see the opposite. You see shortfalls that lawmakers are having to scramble to figure out a way to bridge.”

Sommerhauser said that with the smaller reserves, the next budget is likely “going to be kind of coming back to Earth.”

By July 1 2027, Wisconsin’s general fund balance is projected to be $770.5 million — a drop of about $3.6 billion and the lowest balance since 2018. The state will also have $2.1 billion in its rainy day fund.

This leaves Wisconsin with a projected $2.8 billion in its reserves — about 11% of Wisconsin’s net general fund appropriations in fiscal year 2027, Sommerhauser said.

“That’s certainly not disastrous. It’s not cataclysmic at all. It is more than the state has had in reserve for many years prior to the pandemic,” Sommerhauser said. “Of course, it’s a lot less than the last couple of budgets here.”

See Baylor Spears, Wisconsin’s surplus is waning. Next budget will mean ‘coming back to Earth.’, Wisconsin Examiner, August 14, 2025.

One shies from calling Wisconsin’s politics normal, yet perhaps it’s reasonable to say smaller surpluses will be a return to the conventional.

Why did researchers stick a rubber duck to a rock? To show off their super glue:

A new hydrogel is an effective adhesive even on wet surfaces, opening up the way for its use in surgery and underwater repair. Researchers developed the hydrogel using inspiration from nature. By using data mining to find sticky proteins, they produced hydrogels with these adhesive properties, which they then refined with further testing and machine learning. They hope that their approach can inspire other researchers to use AI to help design new materials.
Read the paper: https://www.nature.com/articles/s4158…

City, Film

Film: Wednesday, August 20th, 1:00 PM @ Seniors in the Park, Humphrey Bogart: Life Comes in Flashes

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Wednesday, August 20th at 1:00 PM, there will be a showing of Humphrey Bogart: Life Comes in Flashes @ Seniors in the Park, in the Starin Community Building:

Biography/Documentary

Rated G. 1 hour, 39 minutes (2024)

The iconic actor’s journey to stardom from vaudeville to Hollywood as seen through unprecedented rare personal footage from his estate, including his own personal narration and that of his wife, Lauren Bacall, son Stephen, and other notable actors and actresses.
The man, the myth, the legend!

One can find more information about Humphrey Bogart: Life Comes in Flashes at the Internet Movie Database.


Conservation, Daily Bread, Weird Tales

Daily Bread for 8.14.25: One of the Strangest Conservation Efforts in American History

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Good morning.

Thursday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 81. Sunrise is 6:00 and sunset is 7:57, for 13 hours, 57 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 68.1 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1948, an Idaho Department of Fish and Game program to relocate beavers known as Beaver Drop takes place. The program relocated beavers from northwestern Idaho to central Idaho by airplane and then parachuting the beavers into the Chamberlain Basin.

It’s all true.

And here’s an unusual effort of the present day — Meet the English springer spaniel who sniffs out threats to honey bee colonies:

Daily Bread, Far-Right Populism, Gubernatorial Race 2026

Daily Bread for 8.13.25: Far-Right Populists Will Draft the WISGOP Gubernatorial Platform

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Good morning.

Wednesday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 80. Sunrise is 5:59 and sunset is 7:59, for 14 hours, 0 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 78.6 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Equal Opportunities Commission meets at 5 PM.

On this day in 1961, East Germany closes the border between the eastern and western sectors of Berlin to thwart its inhabitants’ attempts to escape to the West, and construction of the Berlin Wall is started. The day is known as Barbed Wire Sunday.

The formula from FREE WHITEWATER to gauge far-right populist success in Wisconsin is a simple, predictive one:

(SOME MONEY) + (PLENTIFUL EXTREMISM) + (MR. TRUMP’S ENDORSEMENT) = WISGOP GUBERNATORIAL NOMINATION

WISGOP candidate Bill Berrien’s remarks on a right-wing radio program reveal that Berrien understands the importance of maximizing PLENTIFUL EXTREMISM within the equation:

Whitefish Bay manufacturing CEO Bill Berrien says he supports eliminating state permit requirements for firearm owners who want to carry guns in a concealed fashion, a policy known to supporters as constitutional carry.

“I believe that every American is granted a carry permit and that’s in the form of the Second Amendment and I think we need to get back to personal responsibility, freedom and this focus on constitutional carry is one of those examples,” Berrien told conservative radio host Jay Weber on Aug. 5. “I’ve shot tens of thousands of rounds during my time in the SEAL teams and a gun safe full of guns and all that. We should not have government assuming that everyone is incompetent until they prove otherwise. It is their right under the Second Amendment.”

….

Berrien’s support of the change comes as most Wisconsinites — 69% — support the state’s current law of requiring licenses and training. An overwhelming 82% of voters polled said they opposed the idea of removing concealed carry permits, according to 2022 polling by the Marquette University Law
School.

See Molly Beck, Bill Berrien says he supports eliminating concealed firearm licenses that require training, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, August 13, 2025.

It’s possible to support Second Amendment rights, as I do, without believing that those rights negate concealed carry requirements (they don’t, and that’s why Berrien’s plan would require a change in Wisconsin law).

Berrien is almost certainly where the WISGOP primary voter wants the party to be on this issue. His positions will force other candidates (so far, only Washington County Executive Josh Schoemann) to move as far right as Berrien on most issues Berrien supports.

He may seem like a long shot, and as a candidate, he still is. As the coordinator of the WISGOP platform committee, however, Berrien’s already five weeks into the job.

A palate cleanser — Eagle Eye Farm brings alpaca farm magic to River Falls:

River Falls agrotourism farmer Kerri Harting has been through a lot in the last two years, but still wants to spread the joy of animals and farming through alpacas and other fluffy friends.

America, City, Daily Bread, Economy, Tariffs, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 8.12.25: Inflation Rose in July

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Good morning.

Tuesday in Whitewater will see morning showers and then cloudy skies with a high of 81. Sunrise is 5:58 and sunset is 8:00, for 14 hours, 2 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 87.4 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Public Works Committee meets at 5:15 PM.

On this day in 1981, IBM releases the IBM Personal Computer.

By Rama & Musée Bolo – File:IBM_PC-IMG_7271.jpg, CC BY-SA 2.0 fr, Link.

Inflation, still measured accurately, continued to rise in July:

US prices continued to rise in July, according to key economic data released on Tuesday, as Donald Trump’s international tariffs shakeup started to impact consumer costs.

Prices were 2.7% higher last month compared with a year ago, according to the consumer price index (CPI), which measures the prices of a basket of goods and services. Though inflation dipped down in the spring, the annualized inflation rate jumped up 0.4% since April.

Though the inflation rate stayed stable between June and July, core inflation, which excludes the volatile energy and food industries, went up 3.1% over the last month – a higher pace than what was seen in June.

The report is the latest to show that the US economy is experiencing some turbulence from Trump’s unparalleled shakeup of US trading policy, despite insistence from Republicans that the economy is “firing on all cylinders”.

On top of a 10% universal tariff on all imports, Trump has set higher tariffs for dozens of countries, including the US’s top trading partners. On Monday, hours before a midnight deadline, Trump delayed enacting steep tariffs on China for another 90 days while negotiations continue.

Although many of these tariffs only went into effect 7 August, Trump’s 10% universal tariff, along with higher tariffs on certain industries like steel and aluminum, have been in effect since the spring.

Economists say that it takes time for tariffs to show up in consumer prices. Some retailers have been stocking up their inventory to delay the impact of tariffs and keep prices stable. But the jump in prices suggests that companies have started to pass down costs to customers, as leaders of companies like Walmart, Nike and Macy’s have said would happen.

Tariffs have also hit the labor market harder than economists had anticipated. Data released earlier this month dramatically revised down job figures that initially showed a healthy job market. The government had reported 291,000 jobs were added to the economy in May and June, but the revision brought the total down to 33,000.

See Lauren Aratani, US prices continued rise in July as Trump tariffs impact consumer costs, The Guardian, August 12, 2025.

How can this be? Didn’t Whitewater’s special interest men, these aged few with a few others they’ve brought along, tell you that Mr. Trump was America’s best option for the economy? They did say that, and on more than one of their rental properties they posted signs declaring their convictions:

It is these tired men who have, yet again, shown themselves as gentlemen of below-average understanding but above-average confidence. They carry on as though they have been granted a dispensation to say whatever they want without accountability for anything they have said or done in this town. (Any person plucked off the street in America’s smallest town could have done as well as Whitewater’s special interest men.)

It’s sensible to take them literally; it’s reckless (and silly) to take them seriously.

The most effective way to reduce costs would be for America to abandon Trump’s tax policies, tariff policies (a tax on consumers and businesses n its own right), and spending policies.

A dramatic lightning strike in South Carolina:

Lightning struck along a highway in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, on August 11. The lightning strike brought down wires and caused power outages and traffic delays, Mount Pleasant Police Department said in a statement on social media.

Agriculture, Culture, Daily Bread, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 8.11.25: For Wisconsin Dairy, It’s Fewer Farms But More Milk

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Good morning.

Monday in Whitewater will see partly cloudy skies with a high of 84. Sunrise is 5:57 and sunset is 8:02, for 14 hours, 5 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 93.7 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Plan and Architectural Review Commission meets at 6 PM.

On this day in 1929, Babe Ruth becomes the first baseball player to hit 500 home runs in his career with a home run at League Park in Cleveland, Ohio.

We’re America’s Dairyland, and in America’s Dairyland of 2025, it’s more milk from fewer farms:

Since 2000, Wisconsin has lost more than 70% of its dairy herds.

As of Aug. 1, there were 5,222 licensed milk cow herds in the state, according to the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection. That’s down nearly 26% from only five years ago, and the lowest point on record.

Milk production has actually risen as the remaining farms have become larger and more efficient. The amount of milk produced per cow has also gone up.

But the loss of small and mid-size farms has harmed rural areas where they were the lifeblood of their communities. Consolidation of the nation’s food production into fewer and larger operations worries advocates for smaller farms that represent economic diversity.

See Rick Barrett, Wisconsin dairy farm count keeps falling amid hard times. Here are some farmers who persevere, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, August 11, 2025.

Economic change and cultural change would seem, for many, to run in opposite directions. Practical gains come at a sentimental loss. (Some of the same tensions are evident in opposition to solar power in rural areas. (The closer to one’s community, however — as with solar power for Whitewater — the more intense the sentiment, and the more likely that sentiment leads those who insist they “don’t take a position” to do exactly that when remixing and emphasizing arguments from only one side of a question.)

International news organizations (Reuters, below) cover area weather after cars abandoned in Wisconsin flooding:

Floodwaters submerged vehicles following severe storms in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States.

Daily Bread, Economy, Employment, Far-Right Populism, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 8.10.25: Wisconsin’s Manufacturing Employment Faces Decline

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Good morning.

Sunday in Whitewater will see thunderstorms with a high of 81. Sunrise is 5:56 and sunset is 8:03, for 14 hours, 7 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 98.1 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1519, Ferdinand Magellan‘s five ships set sail from Seville to circumnavigate the globe. The Basque second-in-command Juan Sebastián Elcano will complete the expedition after Magellan’s death in the Philippines.

As hiring in America is in decline, and Wisconsin is part of America, it’s probable that what ails America will ail Wisconsin, too:

New job numbers from the U.S. Department of Labor paint a stark picture of America’s job market — and a University of Wisconsin-Madison economist said he expects upcoming Wisconsin jobs numbers to show a similar trend in manufacturing jobs. 

The Labor Department released a report Aug. 1 showing weaker than expected job growth for July, with 73,000 jobs added. 

But it was the report’s revision of May and June job creation numbers to under 19,000 for May and 14,000 jobs in June that painted a weaker picture of the U.S. economy — and led to President Donald Trump firing the commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

…

The jobs report published early this month found a decline of 11,000 jobs nationally in manufacturing — an industry that Wisconsin has historically relied on. 

[Professor of public affairs and economics at UW-Madison’s La Follette School of Public Affairs Menzie] Chinn said this decline is to be expected based on how nations like China responded after Trump placed smaller tariffs on other countries in 2018.

“I wonder why it took so long for it to show up,” Chinn said. 

Chinn added that the uncertainty from negotiated tariffs are taking a toll on Wisconsin businesses.

“If you have to decide whether you want to build a new factory or buy new equipment that’s going to be used to service exports, but you don’t know whether the markets for those exports will be there or you don’t know if you’ll be cost competitive … you’re frozen on both sides,” Chinn said.

See Trevor Hook, Economist expects Wisconsin manufacturing jobs to show decline amid poor national numbers (‘Economist Menzie Chinn tells ‘Wisconsin Today’ that new job numbers show a ‘drastic change’ in the trajectory of the nation’s jobs market’), Wisconsin Public Radio, August 6, 2025.

Today’s populism isn’t about economics, so when the populists see economic figures that they don’t like, they simply deny their accuracy, and advance their own fantastical economic theories. They’ll always have a rationalization, a ready-made excuse, to change the subject. One can find all sorts of ignorant, indeed, ludicrous economic claims the populists make, and it doesn’t matter much to them because for the die-hards and dead-enders, the primary goal is not economic at all.

Much better, for them, to deny economic measurements, or to fabricate their own, and get back to what matters most to them. Their task is cultural: to inflict retribution against their perceived cultural enemies. Any contention, claim, or argument they make about economics is simply a means to return to that primary, essential task.

Bad policy reaches many parts of the economy — Tariffs to Make Dorm Room Essentials More Expensive:

Back-to-college items like microwaves, table fans, bedding and some school supplies have been hit with big tariff increases.

Animals, Daily Bread, Weird Tales, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 8.9.25: Wisconsin Bear with Jar Stuck on Head Freed After 12 Days

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Good morning.

Saturday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of 91. Sunrise is 5:55 and sunset is 8:04, for 14 hours, 10 minutes of daytime. The moon is full with 99.9 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1173, construction of the campanile of the Cathedral of Pisa (now known as the Leaning Tower of Pisa) begins; it will take two centuries to complete.

Panoramic view (from left to right) of the campanile (Leaning Tower of Pisa), the Pisa Cathedral, and the Pisa Baptistry in the Piazza dei Miracoli. By Arne Müseler / www.arne-mueseler.com, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, Link.

Wisconsin bear with jar stuck on head freed:

A bear seen wandering around northern Wisconsin with a jar on its head has been freed, relocated and released.

Wisconsin Life | Walk in the woods with an old growth guide:

Forest guide John Bates leads educational walks through Van Vliet Hemlocks State Natural Area, one of Wisconsin’s rare old growth forests. Bates explains how fallen trees become nurse logs, supporting new growth of everything from towering hemlocks to tiny mushrooms in this 400-year-old ecosystem.

Daily Bread, Elections, Gubernatorial Race 2026, Populists, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 8.8.25: Dispatching Three Ludicrous Claims About Wisconsin Politics

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Good morning.

Friday in Whitewater will be partly cloudy with a high of 89. Sunrise is 5:54 and sunset is 8:06, for 14 hours, 12 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 99.3 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1945, the London Charter is signed by France, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, and the United States, establishing the laws and procedures for the Nuremberg trials.

There are three silly notions about Wisconsin politics deserving no better than prompt dispatch.

1. Every former Republican candidate for governor has a legitimate shot at running again for Wisconsin governor in 2026.

No, they don’t. First, one heard from journalists (who should have known better) talking about a Scott Walker comeback; it was all clickbait. See We Weren’t Teasing, Scott Walker Was Teasing! This week, it was Tommy Thompson talking about his own comeback. See Former Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson considering a run in 2026 (“I’m in great physical health, my mind is sharp as hell, I’ve got things I would like to accomplish, but it’s way too early for me to make that decision”).

Oh, brother. Has anyone asked Scott McCallum about his plans? There’s a simple formula for how the WISGOP gubernatorial nominee will be decided:

(SOME MONEY) + (PLENTIFUL EXTREMISM) + (MR. TRUMP’S ENDORSEMENT) = WISGOP GUBERNATORIAL NOMINATION

That’s it. That’s all of it. Walker and Thompson lack necessary terms of the equation: not extreme enough and not likely to get Mr. Trump’s endorsement.

2. Bipartisanship is ethically permissible in this environment.

No, it’s not. Bipartisanship is not possible in a populist environment. Populism has only adherents and enemies; it does not have allies. You are assimilated or you are nothing. See That ‘Bipartisanship’ Didn’t Last Long — Because It Was Never There, The WisDems’ Bipartisan Delusion, Seeing Once Again That Wisconsin’s Not a Bipartisan Environment, ‘Bipartisanship’ in Wisconsin Is Simply the Vulnerability of the WISGOP Under Fair Maps, and After Bipartisanship.

Whenever I read someone committed to the liberal democratic order talking about bipartisanship, I think of nothing so much as a scene from Wells’s War of the Worlds where an artilleryman1 speculates about human life under Martian rule:

“Very likely these Martians will make pets of some of them; train them to do tricks — who knows? — get sentimental over the pet boy who grew up and had to be killed. And some, maybe, they will train to hunt us.”

Bipartisanship is possible only after populism’s defeat.

3. Fusion voting could bring people together.

Fusion voting “is a system that allows multiple parties to endorse the same political candidate — could help remedy the disaffection with politics that they see becoming ever more widespread….Making it possible for candidates to run on more than one party line would strengthen the power of third parties and give them “a seat at the table” as candidates and officeholders shape public policy.”

I’m not a Democrat. I’m a Never Trump2 libertarian of a particular type3. Moral and practical necessity require forming the strongest coalition possible. Multiple third parties weaken that effort.

A third way is the wrong way.

_____

  1. The artillery man is wrong about most things, but would have been right about this. We know he would have been right not because of a fictional account of Martians published in 1922, but because of real events among humans in the following decade. ↩︎
  2. Never means never. ↩︎
  3. Individual rights, liberty as freedom from interference, free markets in labor & capital, limited government, property rights, a spontaneous & dynamic social order, in advancement of social justice, each presumptively held and supported. ↩︎

Drone footage shows forests reduced to ash as wildfire burns through southern France:

Drone footage of Saint-Laurent-de-la-Cabrerisse showed forests reduced to ash after the massive wildfire in southern France. The fire, which started on Tuesday afternoon, began in the village of Ribaute in the Aude department, before spreading across the rural, wooded area of the Corbières, famous for its vineyards and medieval villages. The environment ministry said the blaze had destroyed the same amount of land in 24 hours that wildfires typically burned across France in a year.

City, Film

Film: Tuesday, August 12th, 1:00 PM @ Seniors in the Park, The Amateur

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Tuesday, August 12th at 1:00 PM, there will be a showing of The Amateur @ Seniors in the Park, in the Starin Community Building:

Spy/Action/Thriller

Rated PG-13. 2 hours, 2 minutes. (2025)

After his life is turned upside down when his wife (Rachel Brosnahan) is killed in a London terrorist attack, a brilliant, introverted CIA decoder (Rami Malek) takes matters into his own hands when his supervisors (Laurence Fishburne) refuse to take action. An exciting deadly chase ensues across many European locales.

One can find more information about The Amateur at the Internet Movie Database.

Congress, Courts, Daily Bread, Elections, Law, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 8.7.25: The Latest About New Congressional Maps in Wisconsin

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Good morning.

Thursday in Whitewater will be mostly sunny with a high of 87. Sunrise is 5:53 and sunset is 8:07, for 14 hours, 15 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 96.3 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Public Arts Commission meets at 5 PM.

On this day in 1942, the Battle of Guadalcanal begins as the United States Marines initiate the first American offensive of the Pacific War with landings on Guadalcanal and Tulagi in the Solomon Islands.

In June, without explanation, the Wisconsin Supreme Court rejected a challenge to this state’s congressional district boundaries. In July, plaintiffs in two separate cases (Wisconsin Business Leaders for Democracy on 7.8.25 and Bothfeld, et al. (II) on 7.25.25) came forward with new challenges to those maps. With redistricting a focus of Republicans’ machinations to maintain control of Congress, center-left plaintiffs favoring Wisconsin redistricting are seeking a three-judge panel to hear their new challenges:

They’re asking the Wisconsin Supreme Court, which has declined to hear other redistricting lawsuits this year, to appoint a three-judge panel to decide whether the state’s congressional districts initially drawn 14 years ago are unconstitutional. 

The process could potentially open a door to two lawsuits filed in Dane County Circuit Court aimed at overturning Wisconsin’s congressional map, which has helped Republicans win six of the state’s eight House districts. 

Any decision issued by the judicial panel could only be appealed to the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

See Rich Kremer, In push for new Wisconsin congressional map, liberal firms invoke process created by GOP (‘In 2011, Republicans called for 3-judge panels to hear redistricting lawsuits. Liberal law firms want to use the panels to strike down Republican-drawn congressional districts’), Wisconsin Public Radio, August 7, 2025.

The earlier filings that Wisconsin’s high court dismissed in June were filed directly with that court; these actions filed in July have both different claims and a different point of origin.

The complaints from July are embedded below:

Wisconsin Business Leaders for Democracy v. Wisconsin Elections Commission, No. 2025CV002252 (Wis. Cir. Ct. Dane Cnty. July 8, 2025).

Dkt.-009-Summons-Complaint-2025.07.08Download

Elizabeth Bothfeld, et al. v. Wisconsin Elections Commission, No. 2025CV002432 (Wis. Cir. Ct. Dane Cnty. July 21, 2025).

WI_2025CV2432_9Download

Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano erupts again:

Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano erupted again on August 6. Located in a closed area of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, Kilauea is one of the world’s most active volcanoes. In 2019, a string of earthquakes and a major eruption at Kilauea led to the destruction of hundreds of homes and businesses.